Method of making golf ball cores



Filed Jan. 27', 1939 INVENTOR JOHN R. GAMMETER ATTORNEY Patented May 21, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,201,691 METHOD OF MAKING GOLF BALL CORES John R. Gammeter, Akron, Ohio Application January 27, 1939, Serial No. 253,141

4 Claims. (01(154-18) This invention relates to playing ball cores and in particular relates to a method'and apparatus for making liquid golf ball cores.

It has been a practice in the past to manufacture golf ballsby winding vulcanized thread rubber on a suitable core to form a ball center, and then bonding thereon a cover of rubber, balata, gutta percha, or the like. One type of core in common use comprises a hollow rubber casing filled with a mobile liquid,'such as water,

glue, honey etc. The general practice has been to freeze the liquid into a spherical pellet in a mold, and while still frozen to form a suitable rubber casing about the pellet, after which the cover is cured in another mold. However, when certain liquids such as honey, paste, or oily substances, are used, they tend'to stick to the coreshaping mold and it is diflicult, if not impossible, to remove them without breaking or blemishing 26'- the same. For this reason the substances used for filling the cores have been limited to fillers which least tend to stick to a shaping mold.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved, efficient, inexpensive, and simple method of making golf ball cores.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of making golf ball cores in which a wide variety of liquid or mobile fillers may be used.

0 These and other objects of the invention will be manifest from the following brief description and the accompanying drawing.

Of the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a sectional view of apparatus for forming ball cores in accordance with the invention, in an initial stage of the process.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 after a forming bag has been filled with fluid.

Figure 3 is a view showing a filled bag after removal thereof from the forming apparatus.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary crosssection of the filled bag shown in Figure 3 after freezing the fluid therein.

Figure 5 is a view, partly broken' away and in section, of a spherical pellet formed by the freezing operation.

Figure 6 is a cross-section through a frozen pellet having a casing of uncompounded rubber formed thereon.

Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 6, showing a finished core. v

Figure 8 is an elevation of one of the bags used in the pellet forming operation.

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 8 of the drawing, 10 may be a spherical bag or sac, preferably of thinly dipped vulcanized latex, having an outwardly flaring or generally conical shaped, flexible skirt portion l I extending from a constricted portion [2 thereof, closely adjacent the wall of the sphere and providing a restricted inlet 5 therein. The skirt H is adapted quickly to be slipped over a nozzle l4 extending upwardly from a block or ram I5 carried by a support l6. Nozzle 14 may be provided with a circumferential groove M for receiving the constricted por- 10 tion l2 of the bag, the latter being yieldably retained on the nozzle by means of thread-rubber,

or elastic bands Il for example, wrapped and tied tightly around skirt adjacent the bag. A suitable communicating passage I! may extend 16 from the bottom of ram l5 to the end of nozzle l4.

Directly beneath the ram l5 may be a cupshaped receptacle 3, carried by a vertically reciprocable supporting member I9, and adapted go to receive a measured volume of mobile fluid 20 from a tank 2|. The fluid used for this purpose may be water, honey, glue, or any suitable liquid or mobile substance. Member l9, which is adapted snugly to receive ram I5, is movable 25 upwardly as shown in Figure 2, to inject into bag l0 through passage H, a measured volume of fluid 20 under pressure. This fluid pressure preferably is sufiicient to expand bag ID to a predetermined diameter when the receptacle l8 has 30 made a full stroke upward, and the expansion stretches the material of the bag to a substantial degree, thereby placing the material of the bag under considerable tension. A suitable spring-pressed ball valve l8 is provided at the 35 bottom of receptacle l8 to break the vacuum therein to facilitate separation thereof from ram 15 upon downward movement of the receptacle.

When the bag I!) has been filled with fluid 20, as shown in Figure 2, it may be removed readily by slipping it over the end of nozzle [4 against the action of the yielding tie Il which immediately contracts and closes the constricted portion l2 of the bag against outward passage of fluid therefrom (see Figure 3). The bag and 45 its contents take the form of a perfect sphere due to introduction of fluid or mobile material under pressure in the bag whereby the usual molding process is entirely avoided.

As the filled bags ID are removed from nozzle I4 they may be placed in trays and placed in a suitable freezing device to freeze the liquid in the bags 10 into solid spherical pellets 20, or otherwise treated to solidify the material therein. After the fluid is thus frozen or solidified the 5 skirt portion ll of the bag may be severed close to the surface of the bag inside of the tie I l (see Figure 4), whereby the bag will snap ofi the pellet 20 as will be understood (see Figure 5).

As best shown in Figures 6 and '7, the solidified pellets 20 may now be capped either with a self-sealing casing 22 comprising a layer 23 of uncompounded rubber stock or a layer 24 of vulcanized, compounded rubber stock, or both. Where compounded stock is used, the capped pellets may then be placed in suitable vulcanizing apparatus to cure the outer layer 23, this last operation of course liquefying the pellet 20.

The finished cores may be placed in freezing apparatus, to again freeze the liquid therein preparatory to the usual thread-rubber winding step for forming the golf ball center, after which the center may have bonded thereto a cover of balata, gutta percha, rubber, or the like, in the usual manner.

In carrying out this invention the bags l0 may be quickly applied over filling nozzles l4, yieldably secured thereon by means of the tie Il filled with liquid 23 to predetermined volume or size, removed from the nozzles, and then placed in the freezing or other solidifying apparatus. The process does not require the use of a mold for shaping the liquid cores into spherical pellets by freezing, and therefore the process is not limited to the use of liquid or mobile substances which do not lend themselves well to molding processes heretofore employed, and production of broken or blemished pellets is materially decreased.

Modifications of the invention may be resorted to without departure from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. The method of making pellets which comprises making a bag of thin flexible elastic material, filling said bag with a predetermined volume of liquid or mobile substance under pressure thereby substantially to stretch the wall of said bag, solidifying said substance in the bag to form a pellet, and removing said bag from the pellet thus formed.

2. The method of making liquid ball cores which comprises making a thin flexible elastic spherical bag, injecting a liquid or mobile substance under pressure into said bag thereby to expand said bag to determinate size, the wall of said bag stretching substantially as it expands, solidifying the liquid in said bag to form a pellet, removing the bag from said pellet, and applying a casing of impervious material about said pellet and liquefying the material of said pellet.

3. The method of making liquid ball cores which comprises providing a thin flexible elastic bag, injecting a liquid or mobile substance under pressure into said bag thereby to expand said bag to determinate size, the wall of said bag stretching substantially as it expands, freezing the liquid in said bag to form a pellet, removing the bag from the frozen pellet, and enclosing said frozen pellet in an impervious rubber casing and liquefying the frozen material.

4. The method of making liquid ball cores which comprises providing a bag made of thin elastic or resilient material and having a skirt portion about an opening therein, applying said skirt portion over the nozzle of a liquid supply device, tying said skirt about said nozzle with elastic or resilient material under tension, injecting liquid or mobile material under pressure into said bag to fill and expand the same whereby the wall of the bag is substantially stretched, removing said bag from said nozzle with the liquid retained therein by contraction of said tying material, solidifying the liquid in said bag to form a pellet therein, severing said skirt portion and tying means from the pellet, whereby said expanded bag will snap 01f the pellet by virtue of its elasticity or resilience, and enclosing said pellet in a casing of impervious material and liquefying the material of said pellet.

JOHN R. GAMMETER. 

